Educate me - setting up a NAS based (stereo) home theater

[Brian_the_King]

Hello,

I know a bit about stereo hifi but I'm buying a place of my own and want to step things up a little. I'm fairly clueless about NAS setups. I need some 'big picture' help.

First the NAS itself. Synology is recommended often, and I'm looking at the DS216j or DS216+II. I'm not sure if I need to spend the extra $130. Without getting into an argument about how to store blu-ray files, I want this setup to be capable of playing MKV blu-ray rips (over ethernet.) Which device am I better served with?

I mentioned ethernet, I can easily run wiring through my basement from the NAS / router to my living room. That's the next question. What's in my living room? I need a way to control what music or movie is playing from my android phone or windows laptop (ideally both), or with the device itself if the TV is turned on. However I Do Not want to be required to turn the TV on if I'm just playing music. Is something like Denon's current line of HT receivers suitable? I am not up to date on these technologies and don't know where to start. (edit: does DLNA solve all of this or is there more to it?)

Another option is to use the equipment in my sig, but add a control center or hub between the network, tv, and stereo. However I have an alternate use for that stereo so I'm not completely against buying new stuff for the living room. Of course, if such a hub would meet my needs that is much cheaper than buying an all new system.

Finally, say I did buy new (stereo) speakers and relegate my current stereo to another duty. My dream speaker is the Salk Songbird. Are there similar recommendations closer to the $1000 mark? I value tight, controlled, accurate sound over a lot of bass. And pretend for a moment that a Denon HT receiver would meet all of my other needs, and that I splurged on the Songbirds - would an HT receiver like that be suitable for driving the speakers with quality power?

I'm painting a bit of a messy picture here with a lot of variables and I'm hoping you all can help me put the pieces together

 

[TLS Guy]

Your not getting much traction because this whole concepts sounds like a real mess and constant headache.

Keep it simple stupid applies here.

The real essence of home theater is the best speakers and screen you can afford. Then you need adequate power to drive it all.

Now select your front end. Most use players and streaming. For streaming I think some type of HTPC with adequate storage is the best way to go.

Now you need to decide if you want a receiver, or Pre/pro and external amps.

Feed all your front end to the receiver or pre/pro. Just make one HDMI connection to the TV and once the TV is set up the only button you will ever need is om/off.

With these grandiose plans you are heading for a mega bruising.

 

[Littlefoott]

those salks have a low efficiency rating at 84 dB your denon at 80w/ch would under power them
and not be very impressive
set a budget and cram the best equipment you can fit into it

 

[Swerd]

@Brian_the_King

I'll pass on your first question about the synology server. I'd hope that DLNA would be enough for this, but I won't pretend I know that answer.

However I can recommend those Salk Songbirds for their sound quality, although I'd suggest you consider the SongTowers instead if you can swing the cost. Salk rates the Songbirds at an honest 84 dB. The SongTowers, with two mid woofers, are rated at 88 dB. Both speakers can easily handle the power needed to drive them loud. If your room is medium sized, or less (roughly 15×20 feet) and your listening preferences are less than deafening loud, you'll be fine with the Songbirds.

Many other commercial speaker manufacturers are less than honest with these sensitivity ratings, just so they can claim high sensitivity values. As a result, direct comparisons with honestly rated speakers, such as the Salks, will misinform you.

I have a pair of CAOW1 bookshelf speaker I built. They have the same drivers as in the Salk Songbirds, and they have a similar sensitivity. I use them with a 100 wpc amplifier, and easily drive them at loud levels without damage or distorted sound.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I know a thing or two about htpc and nas as I've been doing IT last 20 years and enterprise IT last 10.
HTPC and storage are my particular interests. I built my home nas and htpc as well as helped others.

My first suggestion is to split these very different questions: Some folks could help more with speakers, some like me - with it stuff. mixing it in same thread makes it harder to follow and as result - people will be less able to assist you.

Now, On topic on Synology: http://www.boredsysadmin.com/2015/10/a-bit-of-insight-into-synology-or-why.html. This is based on my personal experiences. take or leave it. I did not invent anything.

Stay away from Netgear offerings. My suggestions are Qnap and Asustore or if you willing to pay a bit more for much better system: https://www.ixsystems.com/freenas-mini/
Read smallnetworkbuilder for NAS reviews and you'll quickly see pattern of performance lacking on Drobo and cheap Synology units.
I am running my home nas with Core I3 2.8ghz Low powered version to reduce noise, but tbh: The reason for that is long gone as I built it while living in 1bd apt, but now the nas rests in basement with fans turned on full blast. I am running multiple small services including media management - Plex server - which is awesome, but real time video transcoding requires more powerful cpu than most cheap NAS boxes have. Watch out for that. Same for Security camera DVR - another major resource hog. I had to scavenge old i7 mac mini just for that.

 

[Bucknekked]

I know a thing or two about htpc and nas as I've been doing IT last 20 years and enterprise IT last 10.
HTPC and storage are my particular interests. I built my home nas and htpc as well as helped others.
Stay away from Netgear offerings. My suggestions are Qnap and Asustore or if you willing to pay a bit more for much better system: https://www.ixsystems.com/freenas-mini/

I am with you on your suggestions to the OP.
Break the topic up in to bite sized pieces will help a lot of the new posters. We've seen a lot of new members to the forum that put in gigantic lists of questions all at once. That's kinda hard to digest sometimes. Separating the speakers/sound topics from the IT topics is also really useful and handy.

Like you, I have a lot more expertise in the computer side of it than the sound side. I'm here on the forum to bolster my sound expertise. But as far as the IT setup goes, I've been in it my whole adult life (like you) and much of what happens there is right in my wheel house.

Have you personal experience with the iX systems NAS device? I checked out the link and configured a 4TB system just to see where the price came in. Not insignificant, but pretty close to what I would guess for a solution with those value points. Are you familiar with the Bluesound Vault 2? There are some folks here on the AH that have it installed and though its not a pure NAS solution, it has many NAS features with some audio ripping features added in. I have no personal experience with the Vault solutions, but if you do I'd be interested in your opinion on them.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Have you personal experience with the iX systems NAS device? I checked out the link and configured a 4TB system just to see where the price came in. Not insignificant, but pretty close to what I would guess for a solution with those value points.

tbh, I never actually physically touch one, but same os running on IX systems device is freenas which I do know in depth since its same one I am running at home. I also was able to convince my programmer friend to get one and so far no complains and minimal assistance were needed on setup.
Besides the features, maybe this review could shed some light on performance difference from more common home nas box:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ixsystems-freenas-mini,4162.html#
This is there are some drawbacks, current OS - 9.10 is someone limited GUI but it's being worked on to move to completely new Freenas 10 system, currently in beta. It will also replace current (good, but very limited) Jail based plugins system for a docker container support, which will increase available apps from about 20-25 to over 100k.
There is also fully supported and even more features Truenas hardware - it received very high scores from independent storage review publication and offers pretty low price per Tb.

Are you familiar with the Bluesound Vault 2? There are some folks here on the AH that have it installed and though its not a pure NAS solution, it has many NAS features with some audio ripping features added in. I have no personal experience with the Vault solutions, but if you do I'd be interested in your opinion on them.

No, Not at all.

 

[Bucknekked]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ixsystems-freenas-mini,4162.html#
There is also fully supported and even more features Truenas hardware - it received very high scores from independent storage review publication and offers pretty low price per Tb.

No, Not at all.

BoredSysAdmin
Thanks for the info. I love Toms Hardware. when I was building gaming machines for my family, I was on Tom's nearly all the time. Great site. Our audio hobby includes some of the darndest things when you think of the whole point of the thing: listening to music or movies. Thanks again